Culture

Life with The Beatles

Culture

Life with The Beatles

Sylvain Taillon: Your mother founded the Casbah Coffee Club in Liverpool, an early venue for The Beatles. How does she fit into Beatles lore?

Pete Best:"My mom wanted to buy a house, so she sold all her jewellery and put the money on a horse named ‘Never Say Die.' She won, bought the house and set up the club in our basement for her kids to have something to do. People would say, 'Mrs. Best, she was the unsung hero, she kept us on the straight and narrow.' Her foresight and her love of music made the Casbah a success, and it became the catalyst for the Mersey Beat."

ST: Why did you decide to do the Best of the Beatles documentary?

PB: "I've had a great life, a different life story from most people, and I wanted to tell my story, warts and all. A lot of people who were with us in Germany and Liverpool in the early days of The Beatles told me, ‘Pete, we've been waiting to tell this story for years.' That's why there are a lot of people in the film who have never been interviewed before."

ST: The Beatles fired you and replaced you with Ringo Starr just before they hit it big, yet you don't seem embittered.

PB: "I could have been part of the biggest thing in show business, but it wasn't meant to be. Yes, there was a lot of hurt, but there comes a time when you have to cast that aside and worry about today and tomorrow. At the end of the day, you still have happiness. Yeah, there was life to Pete Best after The Beatles."

Photo courtesy of wireimage.com.ST: What are your favourite Beatles tracks?

PB: "Oh, there are so many! [Laughter] My deep-down favourite is I Saw Her Standing There because it's a bit of a crossover to the great rock 'n' roll band that we used to be, so it brings back great memories."

ST: If you were able to sit in a room today with John, George and Paul, what would that conversation be like?

PB:"I bet you it wouldn't be about the dismissal. I'd like to think that it would be about what has happened in our own lives. We've all married, had children. We all went through different highs and lows. We would just chat and update each other like you do with old friends."

Beatlemania!

Exhibit If you've ever dreamed of spending a few hours in John Lennon's company, head for Paris. To mark his 65th birthday and the 25th anniversary of his death, the Cité de la musique is hosting an exhibition of everything Lennon. John Lennon, Unfinished Music will take you through the icon's life and includes an interactive area where you can play Imagine on a white piano. There's also a studio with pristine surround sound where you can hang out and listen to his classic songs. Cité de la musique, Paris, to June 25, 2006.

Books You may think you've seen every Beatles photo out there, but The Beatles 365 Days (Harry N. Abram) by Simon Wells will surprise you. There are 430 images that cover the band's rise from England's clubs to their breakup. The Beatles: The Biography (Little, Brown) by Robert Spitz transcends the usual mythmaking to uncover the good, the bad and the ugly behind the most successful band in history. For a little nasty -- and juicy -- gossip from an ex's perspective, there's John (Hodder) by Cynthia Lennon. Three marriages later, the former Mrs. Lennon is still fuming.

Celebrity

EXCLUSIVE: Rooney Mara on her new movie Lion

Celebrity

EXCLUSIVE: Rooney Mara on her new movie Lion

In 2015, Rooney Mara was turning 30, and she had a plan: She was moving house, and then she was going to take a break from making movies and spend her birthday in India, a country she has always wanted to visit. What she (“adamantly!”) was not going to do was work, which is why she really only read the script for Lion, out now, as a favour. “It was so beautiful, and such an incredible story, and I was like, ‘I’m still not doing it, but at least I’ll speak to Garth [Davis, the director],’” she explains. “After five minutes with him, I was like, ‘I’m definitely doing this.’ I’m so happy I did.”

The story that grabbed Mara is this: Lion is based on the true tale of a boy named Saroo, who wanders from his home village in India, loses touch with his family, is adopted by an Australian couple and eventually, as an adult, tracks down his birth mother using Google Maps. The role Mara fell for (and about which she made a joke that it was “an actual supporting role,” in reference to the controversy about her Oscar nomination last year, when her main-character role in Carol made the Best Supporting Actress short list) is that of Lucy, the girlfriend of the adult Saroo (played by “When did he get so hot?” Dev Patel).

Eighteen months after Mara’s decision to abandon her big birthday sabbatical, we’re with the American actress in a Toronto hotel room. It’s a few days after the film’s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). While Mara seemed aloof and a little uncomfortable walking the red carpet, today she’s confident and clever (and devastatingly cool, with her hair slicked back in a bun). The only indication this whole movie-star lark might not be entirely her thing is her nervous fidgeting with a silver ring, which she puts on and takes off on a loop during our chat. (Later, she confesses to a discomfort with red carpets in particular: “The first year at TIFF no one knew who I was, so no one was looking at me on the red carpet. I still feel uncomfortable but in a much different way. Now, the fear is more ‘real’—people are actually looking at me and judging me so it’s a rational fear.”)

Mara is a thoughtful and considered question answerer. When asked whether she believes that fate guides her life, she thinks for a moment. “It’s weird because I have two distinct sides: One is very logical and grounded, and the other is very much in fairyland,” she says. “I believe in destiny, in a way, but I also believe in free will and that we are the masters of our own fate. But I believe there is some pull that the universe has in where we are supposed to be and what we are supposed to be doing.”And then she laughs: “I don’t want to sound kooky, though! I am an intuitive person, and that’s how I make my decisions. Every time I don’t follow that feeling, it leads me to the wrong thing or something that doesn’t turn out good.”

And maybe it’s that experience that leads Mara to give a pre-emptive “No!” when the idea of ever being in a romcom comes up, or being in a movie about football, given her family’s involvement in the sport. (The Maras are part owners of the New York Giants.) “I love sports movies; I love an underdog story,” she says. “But I would stay away from being in one because [being interviewed] would be very painful for me because that’s all people would want to know about.”

In Lion, Lucy knows Saroo when he is living in Australia—which means, ironically, that Mara was one of the few actors working on the film who didn’t get to shoot in India. “I still haven’t been there!” she says. “But I’m going to go next year during my time off.” Unless the universe has other plans—right, Rooney?

Movies & TV

NSFW: The new 50 Shades: Darker trailer is here

Movies & TV

NSFW: The new 50 Shades: Darker trailer is here

There are two types of people in the world: Those who can watch this 50 Shades Darker trailer with a straight face, and those who can't.

With no judgement either way, here's the brand new teaser for Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson's second round as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele, featuring masquerade costumes, helicopters, and approximately one shirtless Jamie Dornan per second. As you might expect from an R-rated film things get NSFW pretty quickly, FYI.

They've set a date! The next royal wedding will be in May 2017

Celebrity

They've set a date! The next royal wedding will be in May 2017

Technically, this isn't actually a "royal" wedding, since neither the bride nor the groom are in fact actually royals themselves...although the bride is a royal-in-law, so...

Anyway! Pippa Middleton has set the date for her nuptials to hedge-fund guy James Mathews, so save the date for May 20, 2017 royal-watchers. (PS They couple has actually sent out the save the dates already so if you haven't gotten yours yet...tough luck old chum).

The big event is happening in Berkshire, England, and here's the best part (other than whether Harry will bring Meg as his date): George and Charlotte are in the bridal party! Prince G will be a page boy and the little princess will be a flower girl. Kate's not a bridesmaid, but she apparently will be doing a reading at some point in the ceremony.